Singapore Airlines cutting First Class capacity to Hong Kong by 40%

Singapore Airlines has posted a schedule update for its Hong Kong route, covering the upcoming northern winter season, and it’s bad news for those hoping to snag a First Class award redemption to or from the city between now and March 2024.

That’s because the carrier’s former plan to continue one daily Airbus A380 and one daily Boeing 777-300ER among its five daily flights on the city pair, still on the cards just a few days back, has been amended this week.

Boeing 777-300ERs cut from the Hong Kong route

Singapore Airlines has now loaded an updated aircraft type allocation for its Hong Kong route, effective from 29th October 2023, which will see the daily SQ894/895 service downgauged from its current four-class Boeing 777-300ER operation to the three-class Airbus A350 Long Haul.

That will mean no First Class offering on this lunchtime service to Hong Kong, or its evening return flight.

It will reduce the total First Class capacity on the carrier’s Hong Kong route from 10 seats in each direction per day (six Suites on the A380 and four First Class seats on the 777-300ER) down to just six (the A380 suites), a 40% reduction.

Prior to COVID-19, based on January 2020 schedules, Singapore Airlines was offering seven daily flights to and from Hong Kong (compared to five from 29th October 2023), and in stark contrast these offered 22 First Class and Suites seats combined in each direction per day, more than triple the six that will be available this winter.

On the plus side, the A350 downgauge retains most of SQ894/895’s long-haul 2013 Business Class seats (42 out of 48), while the Premium Economy section still offers 24 seats, compared to 28 before.

Revised schedule

Here’s how the schedule for SIA’s five times daily Hong Kong route will look from 29th October 2023 through to the end of the IATA northern winter schedule on 30th March 2024, with the Boeing 777-300ER to Airbus A350 downgrade flight SQ894/895 highlighted.

Singapore Hong Kong
29 Oct 2023 – 30 Mar 2024

			Days
			M	T	W	T	F	S	S
	SQ874 A350 LH
SIN 07:35		HKG 11:20
	SQ892 A380
SIN 09:55		HKG 13:55
	SQ894 A350 LH (was 777-300ER)
SIN 13:05		HKG 17:05
	SQ896* A350 LH
SIN 14:40		HKG 18:40
	SQ898 A350 MH
SIN 18:55		HKG 22:45

* Suspended 3 Dec – 30 Dec 2023

Hong Kong Singapore
29 Oct 2023 – 30 Mar 2024

			Days
			M	T	W	T	F	S	S
	SQ899 A350 MH
HKG 09:05		SIN 13:05
	SQ875 A350 LH
HKG 12:30		SIN 16:30
	SQ893 A380
HKG 15:40		SIN 19:35
	SQ895 A350 LH (was 777-300ER)
HKG 18:50		SIN 22:50
	SQ897* A350 LH
HKG 19:55		SIN 23:55

* Suspended 3 Dec – 30 Dec 2023

As you can see, only one service in each direction on this route (SQ892/893) will offer a First Class option, in the form of Suites on board the Airbus A380 service.

You can read our full review of the double bed experience in Suite 1A and 2A on this very flight right here.

Hong Kong’s uphill recovery

Overall seat capacity for SIA between Singapore and Hong Kong will stand at 10,731 per week in each direction this winter, 71% of the 15,106 weekly seats the airline offered in January 2020.

The Hong Kong market is certainly proving slow to recover, with the SAR having dropped the last of its COVID-related travel restrictions only in April 2023, a year after Singapore.

Unfortunately there is still no sign of a return for the airline’s “fifth freedom” route between Hong Kong and San Francisco. While that one was briefly reinstated post-COVID in November 2021, it ceased in January 2022, when Hong Kong banned transit passengers, in another of its ever-changing policies during the pandemic era.

Award redemptions

Singapore Airlines does offer Saver Suites awards on its A380 Hong Kong flights, but they are very hard to come by, especially for non-PPS Club members.

It was certainly easier to score a First Class Saver award on the Boeing 777-300ER service, despite its smaller cabin, presumably due to the less sought-after nature of this older product in comparison to Suites.

Now that there will only be six Suites on this route in each direction per day, it’s likely to be a challenge to redeem these at the Saver rate.

Here’s how Singapore Airlines prices its KrisFlyer redemptions on the Hong Kong route.

KrisFlyer Redemption Singapore ⇄ Hong Kong
	Saver	Advantage
Economy	16,500	30,000
Premium Economy	26,500	n/a
Business	34,000	50,000
First / Suites	45,000	73,000

Hong Kong flights have also been appearing on KrisFlyer’s monthly Spontaneous Escapes promotion, with 30% off Economy, Premium Economy and Business Class award rates for those who can make last-minute travel plans for the subsequent month.

Unfortunately the Spontaneous Escapes deal never includes First Class or Suites discounts.

Big cut for First Class on the Hong Kong route

As we mentioned above, Singapore Airlines was offering 22 First Class and Suites seats to and from Hong Kong each day prior to the pandemic, based on January 2020 schedules.

Here’s how the First Class and Suites offering looked then, compared to now, and from 29th October 2023 when this latest cut takes effect.

First Class / Suites seats per day (SIN-HKG)
Seat	Pre-COVID (Jan 2020)	Now (Sep 2023)	From 29 Oct 2023
2006 F (retired)	8	—	—
2013 F	8	4	—
2017 R	6	6	6
Total	22	10	6

Not only is the latest reduction a 40% cut compared to the current total, it represents a 73% reduction compared to January 2020.

To some extent this isn’t surprising – in January 2020, there were 1,946 Singapore Airlines First Class or Suites seats departing out Changi Airport per week, but in September 2023 that total is just 742 per week, less than 40% in comparison.

Demand for efficiency during the COVID-19 pandemic led to an earlier withdrawal of older types with First Class seats fitted, like the Boeing 777-300s and some 777-300ERs, while the newest type to include a First Class cabin – the upcoming Boeing 777-9 – is suffering long production delays.

The future flagship of the fleet, a total of 31 Boeing 777-9s will enter service with the carrier, but the first was supposed to be in service two years ago – in 2021. The type’s latest entry into service estimate is still at least two years away.

Even SIA’s Boeing 777-300ER fleet won’t return to full strength. The carrier trimmed its total of the type during COVID-19 from 27 to 23, and at the time of writing only 20 of these are in revenue service (74% of the pre-COVID total).

17 SIA routes have First Class this winter

Hong Kong will be one of 17 routes with a First Class and/or Suites offering on the Singapore Airlines network this upcoming winter season from November 2023 to March 2024.

Our dedicated and continually-updated summary provides the full details of which cabins are flying where.

On the plus side, daily Beijing flights will see First Class offered again in the form of the 2013 seat fitted to the Boeing 777-300ER, operating one of two daily services.

We have also updated our Business Class seats by Route page to reflect the aircraft type change on the Hong Kong route this winter. Do note that this includes Airbus A350 Medium Haul aircraft, with the newer (but narrower) 2018 Regional Business Class seat, as you can see below (click to expand).

Singapore Airlines will be flying only six First Class seats per day to and from Hong Kong this winter, in the form of the Airbus A380 Suites, a fraction of the 22 per day being offered prior to COVID-19.

This also represents a 40% reduction on the current First Class capacity on the route, and is caused by a downgrade from the Boeing 777-300ER on one of the daily flights to a three-class Airbus A350, which tops out at Business Class on the passenger experience front.

Award space on this route in the carrier’s most prestigious cabin is now likely to be very limited for at least the next few months, with First Class capacity at 27% of pre-COVID levels.

Even on a cabin-wide basis, SIA’s overall capacity on the Hong Kong route is still only at 71% of pre-pandemic – a reflection of the city state’s much-delayed return to normality.

(Cover Photo: MainlyMiles)